August 11, 2008

I just discovered that most of the shows from this year's and last year's Lollapaloozas can be found on YouTube. Just search "lollapalooza 2008". You can find me underneath of a crowd surfer 3:08 into Flogging Molly's Tobacco Island

August 10, 2008

For the second year in a row, I attended all 3 days of Lollapalooza. If you're not familiar with Lolla, it is an indie/alt rock festival that started in 1991 by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell. Its intention was to be an annual event that toured the country each summer. This hasn't necessarily been true since it has missed 7 years since 1991 and has squatted in Chicago the last three years, nestled along Lake Michigan in Grant Park. Performers at Lolla range anywhere from Rock to Rap to Country to comedy troupes.

This year's headliners were Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Wilco, Rage Against the Machine, and Kanye West. Sprinkled in amongst that on smaller stages were Flogging Molly, The Raconteurs, John Butler Trio, Broken Social Scene, Brand New, and many others. If you don't recognize any of those band names, Lolla certainly isn't for you. If you do, the festival is treat. I have seen so many of my favorite bands in the last two years and in many cases, I've seen them much closer than I would when they headline their own events.

Since the festival occurred between August 1st and 3rd outdoors, things were beastly hot. Add into that 75,000 people a day into about a square mile, which means that if you don't watch your fluids and suncreen, you will be very miserable. Which brings me to my biggest criticism of this year's festival: the crowd. I heard the festival averaged 35,000 people last year and this year it averaged 75,000. It was quite a bit more crowded this year than last but I don't know if I would say doubly so. At any rate 75k is just too many. Someone's elbow will be in your face and someone's sweaty back will be rubbing against you no matter what you are doing. With the band lineup they had this year, 75k isn't necessarily surprising. That doesn't mean it's OK.

Speaking of crowds of people, Radiohead brought in way too many people for the mediocre performance they gave. I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been half a mile from the stage with 4 couples making out around me the whole time. I'm not even exaggerating. North, South, East, and West. I was crammed close enough to them I was basically a part of each one. I think I might have accidentally gotten lucky. Plus I could smell their breath. This also made it difficult to see the stage. So needless to say I left the show early.

Rage Against the Machine brought in another huge crowd. So huge in fact that about halfway through the show, and this is quoting the Chicago Tribune, anywhere between 500-2000 people who either couldn't afford a ticket or waited too long to buy a ticket broke through one of the fences facing the street and rushed the stage. This, and mosh pitting caused singer Zack de la Rocha to stop the show 3 times in 90 minutes urging fans to "take 5 or 6 steps back". During one of these stops that lasted close to 5 minutes, Zack set down his mic and walked off stage only to come back once a chant of "step back" got loud enough that people actually stepped back. Honestly I don't know why people rushed the gates, the show lacked energy and didn't once deviate from any of their studio cuts, save for Zack stopping the show. The really memorable thing about the show was the event itself. Thousands and thousands of people crowded together with hundreds of police officers patrolling inside and outside the park. I have never seen that many cops. There were mounted cops, bicycle cops, cops on ATVs - you name it and all of them had bullet proof vests on. They patrolled the perimeter of the crowd as a police helicopter circled above with a search light scanning the audience. Seeing that over classic Rage songs made for a memorable experience if anything.

The highlight of the show for me was Flogging Molly. I waited next to the stage for an hour before the show and ended up staying within 10 feet of the stage for its duration. FM put on an amazing show and I have never seen anyone drink that much Guinness in 90F+ temperatures. They made the rest of the festival worth it, despite the other disappointing performances and overly crowded park. I think I've had my fill. There will have to be a pretty fantastic lineup to get me to go back again next year.